Pause

When he heard they weren't there to cause trouble, the host's bluish-black skin gradually returned to normal, though his hollow eyes continued to glare coldly at the pair.

"This was an oversight on our part. We failed to give our guests a good gaming experience. But there are no Little Jokers in the deck. Our cards number only fifty-two."

"It's no fun with just us playing all the time."

"How about we change things up and have you call your boss over?" The woman leaned back in her chair, appearing relaxed, but she was gripping a spherical Weird Object tightly in her hand, on guard in case the NPC flew into a rage.

"Let's play for high stakes. One round to decide the winner!"

"Well..."

Seeing the hesitation on the host's ghostly face, An Ying chimed in. "If it's going to stay this dull, we might as well end the game here."

"No!" Hearing that they wanted to end the game, the host immediately refused, his tone chilling.

The four people below the stage also spoke up. "There are only a few of us, and we all know one another's hole cards. What fun is there in that? We already know the result without even going onstage."

"We're guests, and the customer is king. You should be meeting our needs."

"We came here to spend money." The only rather petite girl among them pulled a handful of chips from her pocket and slapped them on the table, her manner full of swagger. "Surely this isn't how you treat us?"

The remaining person looked from one to the other, then nodded solemnly. "They're right!"

A deathly silence followed—

Though everyone spoke with great confidence and looked every bit like a big shot, chills were running down their backs, their palms were slick with cold sweat, and they had all prepared their Weird Objects.

They were terrified that this thing, neither human nor ghost, would turn on them on the spot.

The host seemed stumped by their words. He sighed inwardly at how difficult the service industry was these days, and his deformed face returned to a human shape. Smiling, he said, "All right, we've heard all your opinions. Please take a break while I go consult the boss."

The lights overhead came on, and An Ying returned to his seat below the stage.

All six let out a collective sigh of relief. The acting skills they had honed in various Weird Instances had come in handy.

"If I hadn't spoken up and asked to work with you just now, what were you planning to do?" The woman who had gone onstage with him was seated right behind him. She tapped the back of his chair with easy familiarity. "I saw you holding a weapon."

An Ying had indeed been preparing to make a move, but she had beaten him to it.

"Kill the host, end the game in his place, and declare myself the winner," An Ying said bluntly.

"...That really is your style. Let's get acquainted. My name is Mei Long. I'm a member of the Linxi Residential Area First Squad under the authorities."

"An Ying, a member of the Calamity Crossing Team, a squad directly under the authorities. I currently live in Wutong District."

"Oh, that's the district next to ours," Mei Long said.

The two shook hands, and the other four introduced themselves in turn.

The young girl was Wang Xiaoxiao, also a member of a squad under the authorities. She lived in Blue Lake District, which bordered Qihua Danger Zone. Everyone else on her team had died, leaving her alone.

The other three were men of similar ages and belonged to the same team, though theirs was an independent team unaffiliated with the authorities. They had recently been living in Qihua Danger Zone.

With the host gone, the six sent away the NPCs beside them and gathered to discuss a plan.

"Have any of you found any other clues about this place?" Wang Xiaoxiao asked first.

She was a little nervous and spoke quickly, but her thoughts were clear. "From what we've seen, it's impossible to get out of this death-game instance by killing. New players keep joining, so there can never be a final winner. I've already used the Weird Objects I have several times. If I keep using them up like this, I won't last much longer."

She had voiced what the others were thinking, and they waited quietly for her to finish.

"And this is only the first night. The longer we drag this out, the worse it gets for us. Right now, the only way to ensure we all survive is to achieve a Perfect Clear as soon as possible."

"I've never tried for a Perfect Clear, but your team has gotten Perfect Clears in most of your instances, right, An Ying? Do you have any experience to share?" Fang Yi, the independent team's captain, asked.

"Every Weird Instance comes into being because of the strange story behind it. To get a Perfect Clear, you have to figure out what happened here and find a way to uncover the truth behind the strangeness. Then you can achieve a Perfect Clear by defeating it or resolving it." An Ying shared the information freely.

"A Perfect Clear guarantees that everyone survives the clearance, no matter which instance you're in."

"But ever since I arrived, I haven't found a single piece of information in the gambling houses apart from the rules. It's as if this place was deliberately scrubbed clean. I only saw a few discarded flyers on the streets outside the game, with a little information on them," An Ying said.

"Right, right, right!" Wang Xiaoxiao nodded rapidly. "Same here. I searched two gambling houses, from Gambling House · Winter to Gambling House · Summer, and didn't find anything useful. I couldn't even find information about the staff here or any miscellaneous merchandise lists."

Mei Long said, "I was in Gambling House · Autumn, and I didn't see anything with writing on it either. But I know something else about this gambling house."

"What do you know?" The others all looked at her.

"I don't know much. Ten years ago, before the world was invaded by the strange, I was twenty-four and had just graduated from university."

"One of my friends met a so-called rich second-generation heir at a banquet. He tricked her into entering a large casino."

"I'm not sure if it was this casino," Mei Long said with a frown, "but I think that any large casino is bound to involve sex, lust, gambling, and even drugs."

"After my friend had been there for six months, we lost contact with her. Her mother investigated, and when she found her, her corpse had been gutted of its organs and dumped carelessly by the sea."

"I investigated those gambling houses afterward. They weren't just gambling houses; all kinds of underground dealings went on inside them too. Beautiful young girls and boys were playthings for the rich and powerful, tools for prolonging their lives, outlets for their boredom, and props for their games."

"They captured and tricked ordinary people into being toys and chips, treating human lives like grass."

"Many people who investigated in secret were discovered and brutally murdered, so I didn't dare continue my investigation. But from then on, whenever I went out, someone was sure to follow me, and I received threatening letters at home too. It went on for two years, until the strange descended on the world."

Mei Long's voice was heavy, but it was also because of this that she had learned many ways to defend herself during those peaceful times. She had never expected the world to change, or that those skills would become the foundation of her survival, allowing her to live until now.

"Damn—that sounds even more dangerous than what we face in the Weird World." The youngest man on the independent team scratched his head and shuddered. Just imagine being locked up in a place like this, unable to escape or leave, with no control over whether you lived or died, and being mocked as a plaything... Even death wouldn't come easily. It was too terrifying.

An Ying hadn't heard of any of this either. He had only been nine ten years ago.

"Going by that, the strange beings here seem to be those victims," Wang Xiaoxiao guessed.